Digital Commons Network^™

Racial Resentment, Immigration Attitudes, And The Politics Of State Immigrant Policy Adoption In The United States, Cindy Osei Agyemang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Immigration remains one of the most contested public policy issues in the United States, and racial attitudes have become increasingly important in shaping public opinion and political debate. While prior research has shown a strong relationship between racial resentment and restrictive immigration attitudes, less is known about whether these attitudes extend to legislative discourse and the adoption of immigrant-inclusive state policies. This dissertation addresses that gap by examining the relationship between racial resentment and immigration politics across three levels of analysis: public opinion, legislative discourse, and state policy adoption. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study combines quantitative and qualitative …

Bringing Patriarchy To Looksmaxxing: Identification And Exploration Of Strategies To Restabilize The Patriarchy In The Looksmaxxing Community, Mackenzie Grace Freeman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research literature on looksmaxxing is subsumed under the incelosphere, which is acknowledged as a white and male supremacist space. Yet, researchers fail to attend critically to the structure of patriarchy, choosing instead to base their analyses within the mainstream hegemonic masculinity paradigm. Using a Bourdieusian framework, this project fills a gap in the literature by transcending the mainstream paradigm to explain how the looksmaxxing community uses the body as a site of crisis management in response to patriarchal backlash, with the ultimate goal of restabilizing the patriarchy. This project uses a community-led survey from a popular online looksmaxxing community. This …

The Deposition, Prevalence, And Persistence Of Gunshot Residue In Standard And Less Lethal Ammunition, Liliana Claire Barbosa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

During the discharge of a firearm, gunshot residue (GSR) is released and settles into nearby surfaces, leaving traces that can provide valuable information for forensic investigations. This study aims to improve understanding of the deposition, prevalence, and persistence of standard and less-lethal ammunition through an analytical framework that examines collection and analysis protocols, revealing connections among multiple traces for effective use in investigations and courtroom proceedings.

Research into the chemical residues of less lethal ammunition (LLA) is a critical frontier in shooting investigations. While standard leaded ammunition has over a century of established literature, the chemical fingerprints of LLA residues …

“Black Students Matter”: A Phenomenological Study Of Black Student Experiences At A Predominately White Institution In Appalachia During The Dual Pandemic Of Covid-19 And Systemic Anti-Black Racism, Toni Owens

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the spread of COVID-19 escalated into a global pandemic in 2020, simultaneously, the nationwide media in the United States (U.S.) highlighted coverage of the country’s ongoing incidents of longstanding systemic anti-Black racism in America, another pandemic. In the Summer of 2020, a collective of Black students at West Virginia University (WVU) signed and publicly submitted a petition to the university’s leadership with a list of demands to address their needs as they were further exacerbated by the dual pandemic. This study is guided by the question, “What are the lived experiences of Black Students at West Virginia University during …

Statistical Abstract, Fiscal Year 2026, Tennessee. Department Of Correction

Annual Statistical Abstract

This document is the annual statistical report for the Tennessee Department of Correction during the fiscal year.

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2026, Tennessee. Department Of Correction

Annual Reports

This document is the annual report for the Tennessee Department of Correction during the fiscal year.

Pretrial Justice In Indian Country And Bordertowns-Including Rural Tribal Communities In The Bail Reform Conversation, Jordan Gross

South Dakota Law Review

Pretrial detention rates in the United States are down, except in rural counties. Indigenous people are both over-represented and under-protected in settler-colonial criminal justice systems. Yet the criminal justice needs and experiences of rural and Indigenous people are largely overlooked in criminal justice reform research and discourse. I examined the role of rurality in bail administration in Pretrial Justice in Out-of-the-Way Places – Including Rural Communities in the Bail Reform Conversation. There I explained how bail reform measures centered on urban and suburban needs and demographics fail to address pretrial justice challenges and opportunities unique to rural communities. This Article …

‘The Way We Do Our Translation’: A Case Study Of Translation Policy For Spanish Speakers In The Public Parks Of Sonoma County, California, Gabriel González Núñez, Ángel María Casas Grageab, Christina Guerrero Harmon

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Signs in public spaces can provide essential information. Especially at times of crises, and in places where there are large populations who speak a minoritized language, translation is often employed to create multilingual signage for the benefit of the community. After all, translated signs appear because some authority considers that a certain message is important enough to be visibly communicated to the public, including those who do not speak the State’s preferred language. The decision as to whether to translate or not certain signs may seem arbitrary, but one would hope that it is the result of a guided policy …

Artificial Intelligence, Tribal Sovereignty, And The Criminal Justice System, Kevin Angelo Brown

South Dakota Law Review

As artificial intelligence (“AI”) has become increasingly integrated into everyday life in Indian Country and into governmental functions, including policing, courts, and corrections, it is creating new circumstances that can undermine tribal sovereignty. The 575 federally recognized Tribal Nations are under significant pressure to maintain their sovereignty while adapting to new AI-based technologies. With the implementation of AI, tribes should retain control over how it is used to benefit their communities, without compromising their legal rights or well-being, particularly in light of past harms caused by inadequate legal protections that allowed technological developments to damage tribal health, environments, economies, and …

South Dakota State Climate Office Records, Sdsu Archives And Special Collections, Hilton M. Briggs Library

Archives Finding Aids

The South Dakota State Climate Office serves as the official source of climate and drought information for the state of South Dakota. The office provides climate data, analytical tools, outlooks, and related resources to support decision making in agriculture, industry, public safety, and other areas of public interest. Climate information is distributed through multiple platforms, including websites, social media, and print and electronic publications, providing public access to current and historical climate information.

The South Dakota State Climate Office Records document more than a century of weather and climate data collection across South Dakota and portions of Iowa, Minnesota, and …

The Impact Of Pre-Trial Attitudes And Educational Jury Instructions : Juror Decision-Making In Mens Rea Cases Involving Mental Illness, Victoria E. O'Connell

Theses

Juror decision-making in cases involving mental illness is shaped by legal understanding and subjective attitudes. This study examined how juror attitudes and jury instruction type influence the application of mens rea defenses—Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI), Diminished Capacity (DC), and Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI)—in criminal case vignettes involving defendants with mental health presentations. Enhanced jury instructions improved understanding of mens rea concepts but did not improve the application of these concepts to verdict decisions. Biases against mens rea defenses were associated with DC verdict decisions, with more negative NGRI attitudes predicting less legally accurate but more confident …

Impact Of Tactical Breathing On Marksmanship And Cognitive Function After Anaerobic Fatigue In Law Enforcement Personnel, Jackson D. Gilleland

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Background: Tactical breathing is commonly used in law enforcement training to regulate stress, yet limited evidence exists regarding its acute effectiveness following physical fatigue. Purpose: To examine whether a brief tactical breathing intervention improves shooting performance and heart rate variability (HRV) following anaerobic fatigue in law enforcement officers. Methods: Thirty-eight officers completed baseline HR/HRV and a shoot/no-shoot scenario, followed by a maximal 500-m row and post-fatigue shooting. Participants were assigned to either a control group or a tactical breathing group, which received brief instruction and coaching before post-testing. Results: No significant between-group differences were observed for A-zone accuracy, shot time, …

Comparison Of 2000-Meter Row Prediction To Measured Vo2peak During Gxt, Andrew S. Ashley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Aerobic capacity is essential for the performance of military personnel and first responders. Traditionally, graded exercise tests (GXTs) with metabolic gas analysis have been the criterion-referenced method for assessing aerobic fitness. However, treadmill running and cycle ergometers may not fully reflect the whole-body demands required in tactical environments. Rowing-based assessments and the currently commercially available VO2max prediction formula are widely used across tactical organizations as practical field measures, and most tactical operators are considered inexperienced rowers, which has been minimally examined. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare measured VO2peak from a rowing GXT with estimated VO2max …

Vibrio In Oysters: Exploring The Impact Of Harvesting Practices, Samin Yasar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The rapid growth of oyster aquaculture in the Southeastern United States necessitates the validation of post-harvest processing strategies to mitigate the risk of Vibrio spp. infection. This study investigated the efficiency of three cooling methods - Direct Ice Burial, Indirect Ice Cooling, and Ambient Control, on the prevalence and abundance of V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus in cultured oysters (Crassostrea virginica) harvested in Georgia. Additionally, the study examined the safety of two different re-submersion periods for oyster safety.

Internal temperature profiles confirmed that while Direct Ice Burial achieved the most rapid cooling (< 10° C in 7.3 ± 1.2 min), the Indirect Ice Cooling protocol successfully reached the safety threshold in 73.7 ± 17.2 min, well within the 2-hour regulatory window. Microbiological analysis (N = 270) revealed that V. …